Wikipedia

Bluefish

The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as tailor in Australia,[1]shad on the east coast of South Africa, elf on the west coast. Other common names are blue, chopper, and anchoa.[2] It is good eating and a popular gamefish.

The bluefish is a moderately proportioned fish, with a broad, forked tail. The spiny first dorsal fin is normally folded back in a groove, as are its pectoral fins. Coloration is a grayish blue-green dorsally, fading to white on the lower sides and belly. Its single row of teeth in each jaw are uniform in size, knife-edged, and sharp. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven-inch (18-cm) "snappers" to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 40 pounds (18 kg), though fish heavier than 20 pounds (9 kg) are exceptional.

Bluefish are widely distributed around the world in tropical and subtropical waters. They are found in pelagic waters on much of the continental shelves along eastern America (though not between south Florida and northern South America), Africa, the Mediterranean and Black Seas (and during migration in between), Southeast Asia, and Australia. They are found in a variety of coastal habitats: above the continental shelf, in energetic waters near surf beaches, or by rock headlands.[3] They also enter estuaries and inhabit brackish waters.[4][5][6] Periodically, they leave the coasts and migrate in schools through open waters.[7][8]

Along the U.S. east coast, bluefish are found off Florida in the winter months. By April, they have disappeared, heading north. By June, they may be found off Massachusetts; in years of high abundance, stragglers may be found as far north as Nova Scotia. By October, they leave the waters north of NYC, heading south (whereas some bluefish, perhaps less migratory,[9][10] are present in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the year). In a similar pattern overall, the economically significant population that spawns in Europe's Black Sea migrates south through Istanbul (Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, Aegean Sea) and on toward Turkey's Mediterranean coast in the autumn for the cold season.[11] Along the South African coast and environs, movement patterns are roughly in parallel.[12]

Adult bluefish are typically between 20 and 60 cm long, with a maximum reported size of 120 cm and 14 kg. They reproduce during spring and summer, and can live for up to 9 years.[7][8] Bluefish fry are zooplankton, and are largely at the mercy of currents.[13][14] Spent bluefish have been found off east central Florida, migrating north. As with most marine fish, their spawning habits are not well known. In the western side of the North Atlantic, at least two populations occur, separated by Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. The Gulf Stream can carry fry spawned to the south of Cape Hatteras to the north, and eddies can spin off, carrying them into populations found off the coast of the mid-Atlantic, and the New England states.[15]

In turn, bluefish are preyed upon by larger predators at all stages of their life cycle. As juveniles, they fall victim to a wide variety of oceanic predators, including striped bass, larger bluefish, fluke (summer flounder), weakfish, tuna, sharks, rays, and dolphins. As adults, bluefish are taken by tuna, sharks, billfish, seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, and many other species.

Bluefish should be handled with caution due to their ability to snap at unwary hands. Fishermen have been severely bitten, and wearing gloves can help. It's not a good idea to wade or swim among feeding bluefish schools.[17] In July 2006, a seven-year-old girl was attacked on a beach, near the Spanish town of Alicante, allegedly by a bluefish.[18]

Wild capture of bluefish by countries in thousand tonnes, 1950–2010, as reported by the FAO[19]

In the U.S., bluefish are landed primarily in recreational fisheries, but important commercial fisheries also exist in temperate and subtropical waters.[20] Bluefish population abundance is typically cyclical, with abundance varying widely over a span of ten years or more (see chart).[21]

Bluefish is a highly sought-after sportfish (and restaurant fish in some places) that had been widely overfished across the world's fisheries of this species.[22] Restrictions set forth by management organizations have somewhat helped the species' population stabilize. In the U.S., specifically along the seaboard of the middle Atlantic states, bluefish were at unhealthy levels in the late 1990s, but management resulted in this stocks being fully rebuilt by 2007.[23] In other parts of the world, public awareness efforts like bluefish festivals, combined with catch limits, may be having positive effects in reducing the stress on the regional stocks.[24] Some of these efforts are regionally controversial.[25][dead link]

The bluefish is the only extant species now included in the family Pomatomidae. At one time, gnomefishes were included, but these are now grouped in a separate family, Scombropidae. One extinct relative of the bluefish is Lophar miocaenius, from the Late Miocene of Southern California.